TALLAHASSEE — With House Speaker Daniel Perez pointing to an “age of disruption,” Florida Republican legislative leaders opened the 2025 session on Tuesday by voicing support for digging into government spending.
“Members, do not be afraid to shake the tree of government and pull out the weeds of waste, fraud or abuse,” Perez, R-Miami, told House members.
“Regardless of background, age, or political party, Floridians expect our government to operate efficiently and tax dollars to be spent wisely, with accountability and results,” Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, told the Senate.
Perez also took aim at the property-insurance industry after a Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald story about a long-buried report on industry practices. The story revealed "that as the industry was ailing and companies were losing money, executives distributed $680 million in dividends to shareholders while diverting billions more to affiliate companies."
Perez said he has asked the House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee to conduct hearings that could include issuing subpoenas and taking testimony under oath.
“A couple of years ago, the insurance industry came to the Legislature and said without sweeping reforms, companies could not compete in Florida,” Perez said. “We have since learned of reports — in existence at that time but not disclosed to the Legislature — that may suggest some insurance companies were using accounting tricks to hide substantial profits while telling us they were in a crisis.”
The focus by the Republican-controlled Legislature on digging into spending comes as President Donald Trump has made high-profile moves to cut the size of the federal government.
But Democrats on Tuesday said Republicans have controlled the Legislature for nearly three decades and are now embracing efficiency because they anticipate Florida will receive fewer federal dollars in the coming years.
“They’re trying to get ahead of the harsh cuts that will be made because the federal government is taking a sledgehammer to federal spending,” House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, said. “That will leave an economy like ours in tatters if we can’t get the funding that we typically get, given that about one-third of our budget is federal money.”
DOGE-ing Florida spending
Last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a “state DOGE task force” to review about 900 state positions, university spending, local government spending and the need for about 70 state boards and commissions. That comes after the Trump administration has used a “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE, to cut federal spending and jobs.
Part of DeSantis’ proposal involves lawmakers passing a measure that would give task force members the power to audit local-government budgets.
“In my view, one of the reasons DOGE has become so popular at the federal level is that Americans have a problem with the idea that unelected federal bureaucrats have so much unchecked authority,” Albritton said. “Now, I respect and appreciate those who dedicate their careers to public service. It’s a very high calling. However, the fact is, we are a state and nation of laws that should be created by elected officials accountable to the people who elected them, not appointed professional staff.”
Albritton also used his opening-day comments to further back legislation that would do such things as help rural communities, protect the citrus industry, increase Everglades restoration efforts and improve child welfare services. He also supported elevating state information technology to the state Cabinet level.
“Under no circumstances, and I repeat, under no circumstances, do I want to create an expensive, bloated bureaucracy of former C-Suite executives from Silicon Valley,” Albritton said. “But, without fail, we must have top talent to win this battle against those who seek to use technology to harm us.”
Perez said he was offering no “personal priorities” for the session, while saying “we are living in an age of disruption,” yet “we can’t be afraid of change.”
Property taxes and affordable housing
Albritton, meanwhile, noted that housing costs have “skyrocketed” since the COVID-19 pandemic, pushing “property insurance and property taxes higher and higher.”
“As a conservative, we’ve got to be honest about the extent to which government, specifically state government, can or should address these issues in a meaningful way,” Albritton said.
Speaking to reporters, Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo, D-Sunny Isles Beach, expressed support for parts of Albritton’s legislative agenda that seek “to feed families, to foster economic growth, to protect our children, our homes.”
“Speaker Perez expressed much of the same,” Pizzo added. “And so I pledge my absolute commitment that if we can focus on this agenda, there need not be an ideology or even an aisle that divides us.”
Aside from the policy issues of the first day, the Senate and House also took time to honor Sen. Geraldine Thompson, an Orange County Democrat who died last month after complications from a recent surgery. A black drape covered the front of her desk in the Senate.
